Hockey pucks



Dec. 20, 1955 A. c. WATSON HOCKEY PUCKS Filed June 11, 1954 I NV E N TOR ANDREW C. WATSON United States Patent() "cc HOCKEY PUCKS Andrew C.Watson, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Application June 11, 1954, Serial No.436,160

9 Claim. (Cl. 273128) This invention relates to hockey pucks' and theprincipal object of the invention is to provide a puck which will behaveon pavement or other friction surfaces in essentially the same manner asan ordinary puck on ice.

In particular it is the object of the invention to enable ice hockey tobe realistically duplicated without requiring an ice surface and furtherto enable stick handling and puck control to be practised on a concretepavement or other friction surface in any season of the year.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a puck asaforesaid which can be simply and economically manufactured, and whichwill have essentially the same rugged and indestructible properties aspresent pucks.

The principal feature of the invention resides in embedding in the puckbody a plurality of roller retaining means opening preferably throughopposing faces of the puck and inherently shock mounted by virtue of theresiliency of the puck body, and mounting roller members in theretaining means to present rolling surfaces beyond the puck faces.

Preferably the roller retainers comprise cups, and the rollers compriseballs rotatably retained in the cups.

Another feature of the invention resides in connecting the cups inopposition in pairs with one cup of the pair exposed through one face ofthe disc and the other cup of the pair exposed through the opposite faceof the disc.

Again it is a feature to provide the connected cup pairs with aconnecting formation presenting anchor means to securely and permanentlylocate the cup pairs in position in the puck body.

Still a further feature resides in interconnecting pairs of cups tomaintain same in predetermined relative disposition to facilitatemoulding of the puck and to assist in anchoring the cups in the puckbody.

With reference to the accompanying drawings,

Figure l is a plan view of a puck embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view through the puck of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view illustrating the ballretaining meansembedded in the puck of Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is a plan view showing a modified form of the invention.

Figure 5 is a part elevational, part vertical sectional view of a puckconstituting a further embodiment of the invention.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the ball-retaining means employed inthe puck of Figure 4.

With reference first to Figures 1 to 3, the puck generally designated at1 comprises a circular disc formed of a mouldable material, preferablyhard rubber, in accordance with regulation puck construction but whichmay of course be formed of other material of a generally similar nature,such as synthetic, rubber composition or a rubber-like polymer plasticmaterial.

Embedded in the body of the puck 1 are a plurality of ball or rollerretainers 2. These retainers 2 are of i with a portion of the rollingsurface of the balls project- 2,727,744 Patented Dec. 20, 1955cylindrical cup shape and are preferably connected to gether in pairs bymeans of connecting portions 3 so that pairs of cups 2 are oppositelydisposed and open through opposite faces 4 and 5 of the puck body 1. Theconnecting portion 3 between each of the cup pairs is preferably formedwith an annular flange 6 which forms an anchor means fixing and locatingthe cups in the puck body against displacement.

As shown in Figure 3, to facilitate the relative disposition of thepairs of retainers or cups 2, a frame 7 in the form of a triangleconnects three sets of the paired retainers 2 into a fixed relativedisposition. The connection between the frame 7 and the cup pairs ispreferably made through the annular flanges 6.

To construct the puck of Figures 1 and 2 the three pairs of retainers 2are located in a suitable mould with their relative disposition beingpredetermined and fixed by the frame 7. The material from which the puckbody 1 is made can then be moulded around these retainers to anchor themin position in the puck. By forming the puck of a resilient rubber orrubber-like material the retainers 2 are inherently shock-mountedagainst blows imparted to the puck when it is being manipulated or shotagainst a hard surface.

The cups 2, opening through the opposite faces of the puck body 4 and 5have introduced therein balls 8,

ing beyond the faces 4 and 5. After insertion of the balls 8 the annularedges or lips 9 are rolled over to retain the balls within the cups butleaving the balls to rotate to carry the puck along a friction surfacein rolling engagement therewith.

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate a puck embodying three sets of paired ballretainers. Figure 4 illustrates a puck having four sets of ballretainers 2 connected in pairs and connected in relative disposition bymeans of a frame 10 of a square configuration rather than the triangularframe 7.

Figure 5 illustrates the employment of individual paired ball retainersor cups 2 which are not connected by any frame corresponding to theframes 7 and 10, so that these cup pairs may be located as desired inthe puck body. Any number may be employed and their location disposed asdesired while giving stability to the puck to roll over a hard orfriction surface.

While it is desirable to connect the cup pairs together to facilitatetheir location and relative disposition in the puck body, it will beunderstood that individual ball or roller retainers may be employed andarranged to open through one of the faces of the puck body.

In manipulating the puck the balls 8 will run on a friction surface andwill provide the same gliding effect to a remarkably similar degree asthe movement of a conventional puck on an ice surface.

Further the puck may hop and roll and flip over to bring the oppositeface downwardly and still glide along the friction surface.

A particular purpose of the puck contemplated is its use to play hockeyon pavements where the player wears conventional roller skates, and thepuck can be manipulated and stick-handled to closely and realisticallyenable the ice hockey game to be duplicated.

It will be appreciated that, while the above disclosure illustrates thepreferred embodiment of the invention, various modifications and detailsof structure may be made without departing from the scope of theappended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A puck formed from a mouldable material and having substantiallycompletely embedded therein a plurality of ball retaining cup membersopening through opposite end faces of said body, the mouldable materialof the puck intimately conforming around and resiliently gripping saidcup members and ball members retained in said cup members and presentingrolling surfaces beyond said end faces.

2. A puck formed of moulded material of the character of hard rubber aplurality of ball retaining cup members embedded and shock mounted insaid puck and extending through said puck and opening through opposingfaces of said puck, the mouldable material of the puck intimatelyconforming around and resiliently gripping said cup members and ballmembers rotatably retained in said cup members and presenting rollingsurfaces extending beyond said opposing faces.

3. A puck as claimed in claim 2, in which said cup members are arrangedin opposing pairs and connected together in opposition with one of thecups of each of said cup pairs opening through one face of said puck andthe other cup of the pair opening through the other face of said puck.

4. A puck as claimed in claim 3 in which each of said connected cuppairs has the connection thereof formed to present a portion of enlargedperimeter to constitute anchor means, and the material of the disc ismoulded around said anchor means.

5. A puck as claimed in claim 4 in which said pairs of connected cupmembers are secured to each other by means maintaining said cup pairs inpredetermined relative disposition.

6. A puck as claimed in claim 5 in which said means connecting saidpairs of cup members are secured to the anchor means connecting thepairs of cups in pairs.

7. A puck of the character described formed of a mouldable materialhaving embedded therein roller retainer housings opening through andflush with the faces of said puck, and roller means retained in saidhousings and presenting rolling surfaces exposed beyond said housings,the mouldable material of the puck intimately conforming around andresiliently gripping said cup members.

8. In a puck formed from a mouldable material, a plurality of bushingmembers, said bushing members being connected together in spacedrelation to comprise a unit, said unit being substantially completelyembedded within the body of said puck, with the material of the pucksurrounding and intimately conforming with and resiliently gripping saidunit, roller means retained in said bushing members and presentingroller surfaces projecting beyond opposite faces of the puck body.

9. In a puck formed from a mouldable material, a plurality of bushingmembers, said bushing members being connected together in spacedrelation to comprise a unit, said unit being substantially completelyembedded within the, body of said puck, with the material of the pucksurrounding and intimately conforming with and resiliently gripping saidunit, and said bushing members opening through opposing faces of saidbody, and roller means retained in said bushing members and presentingrolling surfaces extending beyond said opposing body faces.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS961,140 Ketchum June 14, 1910 1,364,592 Spicer Jan. 4, 1921 1,772,804Gillis Aug. 12, 1930 2,277,057 Bach Mar. 24, 1942 2,444,810 Creasy July6, 1948

